Athena
Athena '''is the Greek virgin goddess of wisdom, handicrafts, useful arts, and battle strategy. She is the daughter of Zeus and Metis, and her symbols include the owl, Aegis, the olive tree, and the snake. Her Roman counterpart is '''Minerva. In the The Lightning Thief, she is portrayed by Melina Kanakaredes History Athena was the daughter of Metis and Zeus. A prophecy had once foretold that Metis would give birth to a son more powerful than his father, which was the god Zeus. This posed a problem as Metis was already pregnant with their first child. To prevent the prophecy from taking place, Zeus tricked Metis into taking the form of a fly and swallowed her. What Zeus did not know was that Metis was pregnant with their daughter. Over time however, Zeus began to suffer from a terrible headache and asked the Titan Prometheus (in some cases it was Hephaestus and or Ares) to split his head open to find the problem. Athena sprang fully-grown from Zeus' head in full battle armor, shouting a battle cry. She quickly became Zeus' favorite daughter. In the most ancient account, the Iliad, Athena is the goddess of ferocious and implacable fights, but wherever she can be found, she is a warrior who defends the State and the native land against the enemies coming from outside, and supports the side that is morally right. She is, above all, the Goddess of the City, the protector of civilized life, of artisan activities, and of wisdom. She also invented the bridle, which, for the first time, tamed horses, allowing men to use them. In Greek mythology, she was one of the most active goddesses. She assisted Odysseus in his journey home from the Trojan War in the Odyssey and made sure the Greeks won the Trojan War in the Iliad by helping the Greeks by giving Odysseus the idea of the Trojan Horse. She also helped heroes like Diomedes, Hercules (in killing theStymphalian Birds), Jason, and Perseus. Athena is known for helping heroes with cleverness. She believes that warfare should be used as a last resort and often uses her trickery and strategies to overcome her enemies. Along with Artemis and Hestia, she is one of the three maiden goddesses. She does have demigod children in the series, though they are conceived when her divine thoughts meet the mortal ingenuity of the men she favors, a love which she believes to be the of the purest kind. Her children are then born in the same way she was, quite literally making them brain children. It is unknown if any other goddess can give birth to children in a similar way. Rivalry with Arachne A long time ago, the mortal Arachne challenged Athena to see who could create the best tapestry. Athena then disguised herself as an old woman and tried to warn Arachne that it would be foolishness to challenge a goddess, but Arachne persisted and stated that if she lost, she would accept any punishment. Enraged, Athena revealed herself and accepted the challenge as she herself had invented weaving. Each of them then made a tapestry. Athena's tapestry was of the gods together in glory and joy while Arachne's showed the gods making fools of themselves. Athena was so infuriated by this deliberate insult to the gods that she destroyed the tapestry in rage and was declared the winner. Arachne was filled with guilt and hung herself. Athena, after seeing Arachne's body, felt responsible for her death and decided to do her a favor. She turned Arachne into a spider so that she and all her children would be expert weavers forever. In other versions of the myth, Athena transformed Arachne into a spider directly after the contest as part of Arachne's punishment. Be it whatever reason, ever since then, every child of Athena has suffers a deepfear of spiders. They are very paranoid that every spider they see is out to get them and avenge Arachne. Most of the time, this is true as spiders are shown to be hostile to them. Rivalry with Poseidon For many eons, Athena and Poseidon have had a rivalry between them, which can be traced to the time when they competed for the position of patron of the city ofAthens, (called Attica at that time). The leader of the city asked the two gods to bestow a gift for the newly constructed city. Poseidon created a salt-water spring, while Athena gave them the olive tree. Seeing that the olive tree was more useful than the salt-water spring, the leader of the city made Athena their patron goddess. A temple known as the Parthenon was dedicated to her, and the new city took the name of Athens in her honor. Another time which marks a conflict between the two Olympians was when Athena transformed Coronis (whom Poseidon was trying to seduce) into a raven. As a result, a furious Poseidon longed for revenge. Hence, he took Medusa, his new lover, into Athena's temple. Furious with Poseidon and Medusa for doing such disgusting and disturbing acts in her temple, Athena turned Medusa into a hideous creature who had the additional curse of turning anyone who looked into her irresistible eyes into stone. As Medusa's sisters had helped her get inside the temple, they too were transformed. Collectively, the three sisters are known as the "Three Gorgons". As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Poseidon later encouraged Hephaestus to try to seduce Athena. Yet another time both of them were at odds about Odysseus. While Poseidon was furious with him for blinding his son Polyphemus, Athena favored him above all other mortals, and was always willing to aid Odysseus when he needed it most. Though it seems unlikely that Athena and Poseidon would ever cooperate, this did happen when the chariot was invented, as Athena had built the chariot itself and Poseidon had created the horses needed to pull it. Poseidon and Athena were also on the same side during the Trojan War, as they had both supported the Greeks. Athena's rivalry with Poseidon seems to be the basis of her dislike for Percy Jackson, Poseidon's son. Their parents rivalry does not seem to affect Percy and Annabeth Chase. Athena, however, tells Percy that she does not approve of their relationship, and has told him to stay away from her daughter on several occasions. At the end of the series, she seems to be indifferent to Percy, though she does singe his clothes as a warning should he ever hurt Annabeth. Personality As far as gods go, Athena can be very sympathetic, as shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods: once, Tiresias, a mortal man, saw her bathing naked. While Athena did blind him, she then sent snakes to protect him and gave him supernatural powers to see the future, amongst other things. Athena is a very disciplined, quick thinking, and wise goddess. She is very brilliant and always takes precautions before acting, for obvious reasons. Percy notes in The Titan's Curse that Athena might be the worst enemy someone could make, even among the gods, as she would never give up or make a rash mistake simply because she hated you. She loves all of her demigod children, and seems to be a caring mother. She is the only known god who claims her children at birth. She gave her daughter Annabeth the gift of a cap that turns the wearer invisible. In one of Percy's dreams in The Battle of the Labyrinth, she is shown to have blessed both Daedelus and his young nephew Perdix. She later punishes Daedalus for killing Perdix by branding him with a partridge (the mark of a murderer). Athena is also usually kind to other demigods. She often aids heroes on their quests, even helping Percy at one point while he was in the Hoover Dam. Athena is somewhat cold and calculating at times. She voted against letting Percy live in The Titan's Curse, because she didn't want to risk him staying alive. Athena is also known for never giving up, and crossing her is a mistake. When Paris picked Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess instead of her, Athena took the side of the Greeks in the Trojan War and used every power within her to bring him down. In the book, Athena is seen as a strict and proud goddess, as seen with her original conflict with Arachne. In The Lightning Thief (movie), ''she is less strict and didn't show any sign of not liking Poseidon or Percy. She even states that "War is not the answer". This is perhaps a little paradoxical, as she is a goddess of war. However being the goddess of strategy, she knew that a war between the gods was not the answer and would only lead to unneeded sacrifice. Appearance Athena is described as very beautiful, with long black hair and intense gray eyes (which look as if Athena is thinking of a million things at once). Also, when Percy first sees her, and nearly mistakes her for Annabeth, in spite of the goddess' hair being black instead of blonde. In ''Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Athena is described as wearing elegant flowing gray robes, Greek battle armor, and a golden helmet on her head, which is decorated with pictures of gryphons, and sphinxes. However, as a goddess, Athena can change her appearance at will. As shown in The Titan's Curse, she is shown as an average looking Park Ranger at the Hoover Dam. She is said to be beautiful and lean. She wears an elegant white dress. It is said Annabeth looks a lot like her mother, and has the same gray eyes and cold stare. In some myths she is said to be able to turn into a white owl. In The Titan's Curse, she is seen with black hair. She is also said to be one of the most beautiful goddesses since many men fawn over her but she uses her powers to do horrible things to them if they do not leave on her first warning. Because of this, Athena gets along with Artemis well, being seen having similar personalities and often conduct conversations Abilities As a daughter of Zeus, Athena is an extremely powerful goddess: * Prowess in Battle: As the goddess of battle, Athena is a great warrior, and a master of both armed and hand-to-hand combat, but frequently uses her wisdom to overcome her opponents instead of sheer force. As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Athena learned all of her great combat skills from the nymphs of Lake Tritonis. As a result, Athena and her best friend Pallas would frequently engage in sparring matches, which were described as so intense, that Zeus finally intervened, worried for his daughter's safety. During the First Giant War, Athena was able to defeat the fire-breathing Enceladus(the most cunning Giant) with the help of Hercules. * Divine Wisdom: As the goddess of wisdom, Athena is very wise, intelligent, and knowledgeable, constantly coming up with brilliant strategies. She was also able to see that Typhon was only a decoy inKronos' plan to defeat the gods. However, she tends to measure the odds without taking her own or others feelings into account, leading to her voting to destroy Percy in The Titan's Curse (but she was out voted). Due to her wisdom, she was the one Zeus trusted to check on the imprisoned Titans in Tartarus. * Strategist: As the goddess of strategy, she is a very skilled tactician (greater than even Ares), since unlike him, Athena only uses violence as a last resort after thinking things through and planning for the long term before acting. * Crafts: As the goddess of crafts, Athena is an incredibly skilled craftswoman. However, she is best known for her skills in weaving, shown during her encounter with Arachne in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods. * Telumkinesis: As the goddess of battle, Athena has great control over any weapon. * Shapeshifting: Athena can transform into an owl like in The Last Olympian. It is unknown if she can turn into other animals also. Athena also appeared as a park ranger at the Hoover Dam in The Titan's Curse. As seen in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Athena can even transform herself into pure consciousness: after learning the skill from her mother Metis, Athena was able to use this ability to travel from Zeus' stomach into his head. Attributes Athena's attributes are her spear, and the olive tree, while owls and serpents are her sacred animals. She is also the patron goddess of Athens, which was named after her. As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Athena is usually referred to as "Athena Pallas", in honor of Pallas, her dear childhood friend. Athena's greatest statue (and the most famous Greek statue of all time) is the Athena Parthenos, which initially stood in the middle of the Athenian Parthenon, covered in ivory and gold. However, when Athens was conquered by the Romans, they stole it, so that Athena could no longer be a symbol of Greek military power. The Athena Parthenos itself is described as resembling Athena perfectly, and "even scarier than Arachne". Family Although she is counted as a virgin goddess, Athena can conceive children by joining her mind with her lovers. This means the offspring are literally "brain children". It is believed that this ability of Athena's was influenced by the fact she came out of Zeus's brain in full battle armor. Children Gifts Athena has shown to be the most active goddess, secretly protecting her children from monsters such as when Annabeth ran away, she protected Annabeth until she met Thalia and Luke. * She gave Annabeth witch blood, in order to protect her from harm. * She also gave Annabeth, the power of wisdom, such as, telepathy, the ability to tell if someone is lying, and the power to see the future, and read people. * She gave Daedalus and Perdix her blessing of wisdom. Trivia * Pallas, one of the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt, is named after Pallas Athene Parthenos, one of Athena's alternative names. * Her hair color is black in The Hero's Of Olympus. * Athena is one of only two current Olympians who is a virgin. * She is the only Virgin goddess who has children. * Minerva, her Roman counterpart, is displayed on the medal of honor, the highest military decoration awarded by the United States Government. * She highly dislikes Percy and Annabeth together because of the rivalry between Poseidon and her. * In the series, Frederic Bartholdi designed the The Statue of Liberty as a representation of his mother, Athena. * In Greek mythology, the goddess Athena never had any children except for Erichthonius, who like Athena's other children, was not born in the traditional sense. * In some Greek myths, Athena was the goddess of magic. The Percy Jackson series contradicted this by making Daedalus her son as well. * Much like Aphrodite, Athena's shapeshifting ability has been emphasized more than the other gods. * In one Greek myth, instead of turning Arachne into a spider, Arachne hung herself, then Athena felt bad and turned her into a spider and brought her back to life in that body. * In the series, Athena is described to have grey eyes. However, it is also her famous nickname, "Grey-eyed". * The first letter of her name 'A' is the same as the first letter in her daughter Annabeth's name. Category:Females Category:Goddesses Category:Virgin Goddesses Category:Immortals Category:Olympians Category:Children Of Zues Category:Children Of The Big Three Category:War Gods Category:Relatives Of Annabeth Chase